antonio conte happy
Was that game about good defending from Southampton or your team struggling to find a way through?
I think both. Both. They were very good, they defended very well. To find space it wasn’t easy, but at the same time I think that we can do much better and to move the ball more quickly. Sometimes to try also to find the one vs one. I think that to play after two days – not two days but 44 hours – is not easy for every team. I think that I have seen a bit of fatigue in my players. I think also that for this reason, we make sometimes not the good decisions in the last pass, to finish. We can do much better. It’s not easy. I know very well that it’s not easy to play after only 44 hours that we played the previous game.
What did you make of the VAR decision to rule out Harry Kane’s second strike? Have you seen it back yet?
Yeah, I think Harry scored twice, one a penalty and then the second goal. I think that I don’t want to comment on the referee decision or the VAR decision. They are there to try to do their best. We hope every time that they make the best decision.
Is Steven Bergwijn injured?
Yeah, yeah, during the game against Crystal Palace, he felt a problem in his calf. Yeah, he was injured. Together with Lo Celso and Romero and Sessegnon.
Will he be back for the weekend?
I don’t think so. He has a muscular problem and he needs to recover more time than 10 days or only a week.
You used Dele in a different role today, how do you think he played?
He played like a midfielder, like a number eight, we started to play with Winks in front of the defensive line, on the left, Hojbjerg, on the right Dele. He did in the same way like the others. Today I decided to make three rotations after the game against Crystal Palace. Davies for Tanganga, Winksy for Skipp and Dele for Lucas. Don’t forget we faced the Covid and many many players were affected with the Covid. I had to try to manage the situation in the best possible way. I decided on these three rotations, that’s all.
Was this a missed opportunity against 10 men?
For sure it was an opportunity that we missed. When you have this type of situation you have to try to exploit, to try to get three points. We knew very well that to play against Southampton in this stadium is not easy. The situation at one point of the game was positive for us. But as I said before, I think in the second half we felt fatigue and our mind wasn’t clear to make the best decision. This can happen. I tried also with subs to change something, Lucas in and Gil. In the first half I decided to change Regi, he got a yellow card. It was much better in this way. We didn’t find the solutions to score. We scored, but they decided to disallow the goal.
